NATURAL LIVING: IN ALIGNMENT WITH THE FUNCTIONING OF THE TOTALITY

William Shakespeare: “The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre observe degree, priority, and place. Insisture, course, proportion, season, form, office, and custom, in all line of order.”

F.: In the quote above, the Realized poet notes that in the universe, the planets rotate around the sun in a manner that is fixed even though they appear to be moving as they please. One orbit has “priority” over the next, and the planets have no choice about what is happening. The natural laws have “insisture.” They insist that all is to happen per the natural order, is to happen per “priority,” and is to happen in “proportion,” and if the natural order were not followed—if each did not stay in its “place”—the impact would be significant in the relative existence on earth. The planets move along lines that are “customary”; the planets have their particular “form” and cannot change that; the “seasons” on the planets cycle in a particular “line of order” as the planets move in a particular “line of order.” All movement happens naturally and automatically, and the planets have no choice; they are making no decisions; all is happening routinely without design or intervention. The planets are “conscious” of the pull of other planets, yet any resulting response is, again, automatic. The planets have not dreamed up any magical power that they depend on to function. They do not reverse “course” and behave unnaturally. If that were to happen, the entire solar system would collapse and self-destruct. So it is with persons on this planet.

A natural way to live exists on the planet, and the laws of nature have the right of "insisture": either life is lived naturally according to the “customs” of the universe or persons violating the natural “order” will collapse and self-destruct. The Realized move through the relative existence in a manner that is fixed by nature even though they appear to be moving as they please. Rather than trying to exert any force, they accept that happenings happen. Among the Realized, nature has “priority” over efforts to control or manipulate. The Realized respect the natural laws that have “insisture,” knowing that all is to happen per the natural order and knowing that all is to happen in “proportion.” Persons, on the other hand, seek to control and manipulate so they do not have to accept “proportion” but can work to accumulate and to have more and to appear to be greater than what is proportional. They imagine that they have an actual need for more than is proportional or necessary.

The Realized move along lines that are “customary” rather than along paths that are unnatural or supernatural. To think supernaturally is to think magically, and magical thinking is delusional. The Realized know that particular “forms” are perceptions only. They know that what is Real does not change. They are in touch with the truth of cycling, they know the “seasons” of consciousness as it manifests and unmanifests, and they know that consciousness cycles in a particular “line of order.” They accept the “cycles” and have no unnatural desire for a body to live eternally. All movements of consciousness among the Realized happen naturally and automatically, and none move about in fashions that are contrary to what is natural. The Realized accept their “place” in the natural “line of order” and thus remain “centered.” All around the Realized, all is merely happening routinely without design or intervention. Persons might try to pull or manipulate the Realized, yet the Realized do not respond with the emotional intoxication that persons experience. The Realized no longer dream of any magical power that they must depend on to function. They do not reverse “course” and behave unnaturally. Because persons are trapped in magical beliefs and unnatural patterns of behavior that violate the “line of order” and veer from the natural “course,” they suffer. The Realized are free of unnatural and supernatural thinking. Having transcended the “mind,” having forfeited all beliefs and concepts, and having abandoned all learned ignorance, they do not think at all. They move naturally through the universe. All that happens with them happens automatically. Thus, they do not suffer.

The natural course is clear. The unnatural or supernatural courses are available for programmed and conditioned persons to try. Which course would the sane (those in touch with Reality) follow? Please enter the silence of contemplation.

UNNATURAL LIVING: OUT OF ALIGNMENT WITH THE FUNCTIONING OF THE TOTALITY

F.: All human suffering is rooted in not living naturally, and all suffering persons are living unnaturally or supernaturally. Those living unnaturally can be recognized by their self-destructive behaviors. Those living supernaturally can be recognized by their magical thinking, by their belief in modernized versions of ancient gods, by their acceptance of ancient myths and superstitions as fact, by their disdain for scientific evidence, and by their belief in non-factual explanations for naturally-occurring events. Persons also suffer from the influence of those who would program them to think, feel and behave as the programmers want them to think, feel, and behave. All of those influences drive persons to live (as if unconscious) in a fashion that is not natural.

Persons, however, suffer not only from the disadvantage of faulty conditioning and programming that results in their behaving out of alignment with the natural functioning of the totality of the universe. They also face the obstacle of an evolutionary mutation. Humans are proud of the fact that the limbic system developed as much as other parts of the brain to make humans “the most intelligence species” on the planet, claiming they are far superior to birds and animals that have an underdeveloped limbic system. Yet it is the developed limbic system in humans that helps make them the most emotional species on earth. It is also that part of the brain that makes persons susceptible to being influenced to live supernaturally, or to live unnaturally, or to live in a state of emotional intoxication, and to become addicted to drama and chaos.

The ego loves to lay claim to its supposedly god-given dominion over animals and the planet, yet it is persons (thinking emotionally, unnaturally and supernaturally) that are destroying the environment; killing others of its species not for survival but while fighting over supernatural concepts; destroying “relationships” by fighting over emotional “issues”; and destroying themselves through suicide or self-destructive behaviors. Who has dominion over what? Look at what humans are up against in an effort to be restored to sanity: while the limbic system drives the natural defensive behaviors, it also inspires the adoption of the emotional ego-states that inspire accepting chaos and drama as “normal.” While it inspires the natural search for food in order to survive, it also inspires the unnatural emotional intoxication which results in mistaking for “true love” what is actually nothing more than limbic-stimulated courtship rituals, genital swelling, and sexual pleasure.

The cortex is the greater influence on birds and animals, which live naturally. The limbic system has become the greater influence on humans. The emotions now have dominion over reason and logic among persons. The cortex provides the animal kingdom’s link with reality as it inspires birds and animals to process stimuli received rather than act with no evaluation. It is a less-influential limbic system which allows birds and animals to determine the significance of the information received from happenings in their environment and ultimately separate real threat from perceived threat.

It is that strong limbic system in humans which inspires over-reacting, assuming an offensive posture rather than a defensive mentality, and living supernaturally and unnaturally. It is being dominated by their emotions that causes persons to mistake threats to their false identities and cultivated images for real threats. Now, throw into the human mix with those influences the conditioning and programming that all are subjected to and you have billions walking about the planet who do not know who they are and who fight to defend the false roles that they have assumed as identities. Is it any wonder that humans have no ability to differentiate the true from the false, have a propensity to destroy self and others, and typically live in a state of chaos? Is it any surprise that persons are usually physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually intoxicated? How obvious is the insanity of unnatural and supernatural living? How clear is the sanity of living naturally instead, according to the order of the universe and the natural functioning of the totality? How obvious is the need among persons for Realization...for being restored to sanity by being in touch with reality? Please enter the silence of contemplation.

Tomorrow: NATURAL LIVING: IN ALIGNMENT WITH THE FUNCTIONING OF THE TOTALITY

NIRUTA

From a Site Visitor: “I’ve checked several Advaita glossaries including yours but can’t find the definition of a term I came across in a reading. What is niruta?”

F.: As the site descript explains, this blog is dedicated to discussing Advaitic teachings in everyday language. Many effective teachers disagree with that approach, and their reasoning is understood. Their right to disagree and to follow a different method is respected. Why? Many proteges have to try many teachers who use different approaches before finding one who offers the pointers in a way that leads to Realization. (Usually, the readiness of the student is the main variable.) That said, since you haven’t been able to find the term and since the pointer behind it is vital, I will share.

You Are presently residing in this “I Amness.” The consciousness is presently manifested. The beingness is happening, and one goal of the teaching is to allow the consciousness to know itself…to sense its presence and to know What It Is. But not only is the “I Am” to be known. “THAT” is to be understood as well. From THAT pool of unmanifested consciousness, the consciousness manifested. To THAT it shall unmanifest. But an objective even beyond the knowingness and the beingness exists. In the posting on January 16, this point was offered:

The goal is to know that beingness, yes, but to transcend even that and then merge into the Absolute, allowing all ego-states to vanish in the process.

To know the beingness, the I AM, is to be free of the ego-states that lead persons to believe they are “this” or they are “that.” Yet the goal is to be even freer. The word “Niruta” points to the condition of being free even of the “I Am.” That happens after transcending all and merging into the Absolute, even while the consciousness is manifest.

The aim, it was pointed out recently, is zero concepts. Even “I AM” is a concept to be transcended. At that point of merging with the Absolute, personality ends, no personas exist, no human being exists, and there is only the impersonal consciousness…the consciousness that is “person-free.” But the “Niruta state” is that “state” of knowing that You Are That Which Is even beyond the “free-of-all-personas stage.” Knowing that You Are even beyond this “I Amness,” You merge into the Absolute and are free of all beliefs, of all beingness, and even of the non-beingness. I Am beyond all that, and You Are beyond all that. Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

Tomorrow: UNNATURAL LIVING: OUT OF ALIGNMENT WITH THE FUNCTIONING OF THE TOTALITY

CAST ASIDE IDEAS, EMOTIONS AND ATTITUDES / BELIEFS

[First, a response to “Anonymous in a 12-step program” who e-mailed yesterday, wondering now "if there really is a higher power or not." Please go to the October 2-5, 2005 postings and read those entries, if you choose.]

From a Site Visitor: “I’ve been reading your postings since last summer. I started to write several times but figured you’d tell me to ‘enter the silence of contemplation’ and find out for myself. I see the insanity of a lot of my ideas, and I’ve tried to get rid of them, but I still have some I can’t let go of. I’m convinced I should, but I can’t. Help!”

F.: Thanks for finally writing. Begin at the beginning by asking, “Why should ideas, concepts, emotional intoxication, and attitudes/beliefs be cast aside?” What would be the payoff, relatively speaking? If you know that the only answer is to be free and to end all personal suffering, the task might be easier. Yet don’t be tough on yourself because you have not yet done so completely. Holding onto beliefs and behaviors that result from conditioning makes no sense (“I see the insanity … but”) and seeing that those insane beliefs should be abandoned is not the final solution either (“I’m convinced I should … but”).

Seeing the insanity is easy, especially when seeing it in “others.” How many times in a day do most use the phrase, “Look at that idiot” or “He’s crazy” or “She’s totally nuts”? Persons see the insanity (especially of “others”) and some few admit to their own, but the insane behaviors and insane talk continues. “Seeing it” changes nothing when the power of programming and conditioning are still in play. Pavlov’s dogs were not “crazy.” Prior to conditioning, those dogs only salivated when smelling something they could consume, as is natural. But after conditioning, they behaved in the most unnatural way imaginable: they salivated when they heard a sound rather than when they smelled food. Conditioning can even drive dogs to behave unnaturally. Why should humans fare any better after conditioning?

What can you do to be free of the conditioning and programming they subjected you to? Your plan is correct. Continue to read these pointers and take them into the silence and consider them. Forget trying to reach a temporary “no-mind” state. You are invited on this site to take the seven-steps that lead to a permanent state of “no-mind” even as the consciousness remains manifested. So here’s your pointer for today and for future days: the consciousness, once conditioned, is impure and corrupted and distorted. The corrupted consciousness is the knower of concepts, the thinker of thoughts, the accepter of lies as truth, the emoter of emotions, the experiencer of pain and suffering, the accepter of ideas rooted in myths, and the believer of false beliefs.

The pure consciousness is the knower of the false and the witness of truth. Yet the re-purification of consciousness cannot be accomplished in one step. It requires seven steps. They might be revealed to you via meditation or you can read the guide that takes you (the corrupted consciousness) through all seven stages from the false "I" to the state of absolutely pure consciousness. Try one. If required, try the other. Continue the “journey” until you reach the end and find that You had nowhere to go…that You Were always “there” all along. At the end, all belief in ideas, emotions, and attitudes will end, and the bliss of AS IF living will begin. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

Tomorrow: A Question about "NIRUTA"

“DIE” NOW TO LIVE NOW, Conclusion

F.: A follow-up e-mail was received from the visitor whose questions began this discussion:

Visitor: Again, my questions bring out the best answers. (Ha) So, when I go to sleep, I return to / I am the Absolute. In fact, whenever anyone goes to sleep, they return to the Absolute, the test being whether or not consciousness is aware of Itself or not, not whether Consciousness resides in a body or not. Pure consciousness manifested is a person Realized who is distinquished from the Absolute by the fact that the body is not "at rest." Damn, now I know why they say that the way to being Realized is to throw away all the books and just experience it! I keep trying to catch you in a contradiction. You‘re pretty good at this.

The responses:

Visitor: Again, my questions bring out the best answers. (Ha)

F.: The best answer is the one that is appropriate to the status of the seeker, depending on whether the seeker is at a wet charcoal, dry charcoal, or gunpowder level. Maharaj was often accused of contradicting his own message in the talks transcribed in I AM THAT, and he did say “white” to one and then “black” to another who asked the same question the very next day. It’s true that the content of that book is more confusing than those with transcriptions of his final talks, yet pointers are to be appropriate to the seeker depending on which of "the seven steps to Reality" she/he is working on.

Visitor: So, when I go to sleep, I return to / I am the Absolute. In fact, whenever anyone goes to sleep, they return to the Absolute…

F.: Well, the Absolute is the Absolute: pure consciousness. The reason “I AM THAT I AM” does not express a duality is because temporarily I AM the manifested consciousness in a purified “condition.” But I AM THAT, that which is pure consciousness, when at rest and unmanifested. There is nothing but THAT ultimately. Now, to the second part of your statement: if you speak of "going to sleep" to mean what most call "death," OK. You may remember a year ago when you spoke of death, you were reminded that you already had a dry-run practice at merging into the Absolute some 21,000 times. To “die” is to “sleep” when the consciousness unmanifests. No big deal, huh? To “die” the death of ego is to awakened while the consciousness is manfested. Too, only think of any "going" as in the fashion of the water that came from the ocean, formed a cloud and then rained back on the ocean. The “going” (and the “coming”) are merely stages of cycling. Might the ocean water that had cycled once be pulled into another cloud with other water and form another cloud followed by more rain falling on the ocean? Yes, but you won't have the exact same water or cloud, though you will have the same quantity of H20 forever, merely appearing to take the different forms of rain, oceans, clouds, rivers, vapor, etc. Might some of that rain in our example remain forever in the ocean and never be recycled? Of course. So it is with the energy-consciousness.

Visitor: …the test being whether or not consciousness is aware of Itself or not, not whether Consciousness resides in a body or not.

F.: Right. The wording around “resides in” is never precise, but the brain waves being measured with an EEG are a measurement of electrical activity and manifested consciousness, so good enough.

Visitor: Pure consciousness manifested is a person Realized who is distinquished from the Absolute by the fact that the body is not "at rest."

F.: Again, “distinguished” is another word that is not exact since the water in the ocean or in the cloud or in the rain once again falling back into the ocean is still H20 and nothing more. Nothing is distinguished or unique or different. It is all conscious-energy, merely vibrating at different frequencies that result in seeming differences in appearance. There is only that one thing which All is. Only false perceptions imagine things to be different. Consciousness is consciousness; all is only consciousness. But forget "the body" you mention. It cannot be a measuring point. It is at-rest in deep sleep or it is at work or it is in movement, but beyond that, the similarity with consciousness ends. Too, a person who later Realizes is no longer a person. All manifested consciousness, however, is never at rest and is always in movement, occasional lapses into a samadhi state notwithstanding. Even then, the Oneness is perceived. Consciousness is not even at rest when asleep, dreams being movements in consciousness (whether asleep or in persons thinking they are awake but who are also dreaming).

Visitor: Damn, now I know why they say that the way to being Realized is to throw away all the books and just experience it!

F.: It is the only way. A book like FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE can point to the seven steps to take along the “path,” but after reading it and sitting in the quiet and contemplating each pointer, then...yes...Realization can happen and the book can be tossed.

Visitor: I keep trying to catch you in a contradiction. You‘re pretty good at this.

F.: Contradictions are dualities. What might appear to be a contradiction can happens when, as mentioned earlier, the teacher determines what is appropriate for each protégé at his/her level on the journey. (For example, there’s no need to discuss Step 3 fixations with persons stuck in religious or spiritual ego-states if they have not yet taken Steps 1 and 2 and become free of body and mind identifications.)

Of course, there is no “good at” either. There is no “good,” no “bad,” no “right,” no “wrong.” When you know that you are not a body but are this temporary space, then you will also be done with any talk of any dualities. But what you may be touching is the fact that nothing offered on this site comes from any professional religious or spiritual persons, nothing comes from any “holy” books, and no one is revealing the spiritual knowledge that they’ve gained from books or “holy” people.

No one here would suggest that you believe any beliefs. To the contrary, the pointer is to be rid of all knowledge and to be free of all pointers…including those read here. You must find who you are not and then be open to remembering Who/What You Are. You must understand how this body came to be and where You were during the days prior to conception. Even more significantly, find what You Are when nothing is because That Which You Truly Are NOW is what You Will Truly Be “then.”

The words that are happening here (or the words that happened spontaneously which were taped and transcribed into FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE) are not words that come from any scriptures or persons. All scriptures are revisions of prior, pagan stories. These words come after actually experiencing the lies of the body, the mind, the religious ego-state, and the spiritual ego-state. They come after having returned to the Child Ignorance state, after transcending that as well as the witness and the Pure Witness states, and then merging directly into the Absolute. Is that “good”? No. It is real…the only thing that is real and true. Yet the truth of it cannot be stated. It can only, as you point out, be experienced. After that, all experiencing ends and the beingness begins and continues until the consciousness is no longer manifested. After that, there is no beingness, and there is no non-beingness. There is nothing and there is everything; thus, “I Am That; I Am.” Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

“DIE” NOW TO LIVE NOW, Part Four

F.: The end result for persons (contaminated consciousness) and the Realized (pure consciousness) is the same: consciousness in either case will unmanifest into the pool of consciousness and be at-rest. Nobody (no body) will exist. No mind will exist. But for persons, the pointer is this: the suffering that persons experience in the relative existence can end now rather than later; therefore, persons are invited to “die now” if they want peace. Again, what is to die? The ego, the false “I,” which is nothing more than the corrupted consciousness, the personal consciousness, which is mistakenly taking itself—and all the roles being played—to be real. The Realized have already died, meaning they no longer have any personality or individuality, so they are already at peace. They have merged into the Oneness of what is real and have thus escaped the chaos of the false.

The Realized have gained freedom from what persons proudly take to be their spiritual knowledge, which is nothing more than the learned ignorance acquired in the realm of bastardized consciousness. The Realized no longer suffer the affliction of such knowledge that only generates misery in the long run, while persons take great offense at having all their rigorously-acquired knowledge being diminished. But spiritual knowledge brings as much misery as any other false beliefs. We saw one visitor confess that all his spiritual work and seeking caused him to be "frustrated" and "to stay awake at night." We see persons blowing themselves up and killing others because of their spiritual beliefs. We see their women dreading an eternity in which they are to serve as prostitutes for their martyred men. We see people sacrificing and doing without as they give part of their money each week to "holy" men. We see people giving status to suffering "in this life" while awaiting their "reward" in another life. Spiritual knowledge/learned ignorance inspires a whole new level of insanity...of being out of touch with Reality. Look at the false claims by all those persons assuming a religious or spiritual persona as they assert that they have power and peace. Forget what you hear from them and note instead what you can observe as evidence of their self-deception and their deception of others who believe them.

What is the difference in (1) the “husband” who is on his knees begging “wife” to stay so he can be at peace and (2) that same “husband” on his knees the next day begging some power to give him peace after “wife” has gone? Allowing a persona or a Persona to put you on your knees and inspire you to beg is misery in either case. All dependencies will always put you on your knees and disappoint in the end. Such is the despair of being a persona and dealing with personas and/or Personas. How often does that from-the-knees begging of personas or entities really work to provide lasting and uninterrupted peace? (When those offering to align you with “the source of peace” admit that their process only works for one twenty-four period maximum or for a seven-day period maximum, who would settle for such an ineffective plan?) The Realized are free of being trapped in such misery because they are free of their own past personas and free of being co-dependent with any personas or entities dreamed up by ancient men who self-servingly advanced myths and superstitions. So what is that which has died among the Realized, allowing “life” to bloom? The ego-states that were taken to be real identities.

When those die away, the Realized are at peace. The peace for persons can come later when “they” (the consciousness) rejoin the pool of consciousness-at-rest. The only “benefit” to Realization is in the NOW. After manifestation, nothing is known, nothing is felt, no emoting happens. Programmed persons have been taught that they’ll have “eternal peace” in the next life if they are “good” in this life. Well, that is true only to the same degree that a comatose woman is at peace or to the same degree that a completely unconsciousness man undergoing surgery is at peace. Those with a limited identification with a body want continuity…they want that body to last eternally and to be in ecstasy. Those believing in such have been fooled. The body will not last forever, either literally or in a “gauzy” form, but “peace” will result to the degree that no body nor mind will be “there” to experience any lack of peace. The consciousness that will be “there” (in that universal pool of consciousness) will have nothing in which to manifest so it will be both body-free and mind-free. Consciousness can know nothing unless manifested in something with a nervous system; therefore, after the body “dies,” conscious-energy without any awareness is all that awaits.

Upon Realization “doers” end, so doership also ends; the knowing of the beingness begins. The Realized are at peace NOW and will be “at peace” then. Persons are welcomed to Realize NOW and be at peace NOW. Should they choose to continue to accept their false roles, they will accept the chaos that goes along with them. No other possibilities exist in the relative. As the Absolute, no chaos will be known any more than any peace will be known. You Are That Absolute, so You Are that which you seek. Find the True Self and That which is beyond. Find the understanding NOW and experience peace and bliss at the only "time" you can: NOW. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

“DIE” NOW TO LIVE NOW, Part Three

F.: Yesterday’s post covered the "pure consciousness" and the "unconsciousness" that you asked about. Now, to the Absolute. First to be discussed is the disparity in the way that the Absolute is seen even among recognized Advaita teachers. If one studies the words of a teacher over a period of time, it can be seen that (among some) the understanding “evolved” or "crystallized." In his “early” sharing, the Advaita teacher Jesus Christ taught from the Torah, repeated the teaching of organized religion that he’d been taught, and talked of heaven as a geographic place. After his “Lost Years” when he explored Gnosticism and the teachings of the Nazarene sect and finally the Advaita Teachings, then in his “later” sharings he said that “heaven and earth would fade away,” he spoke of the "I AM," and he said that “no one will ever see heaven—it’s within.” Yet he adjusted his sharings even then, depending on whether he was speaking to wet charcoal, dry charcoal, or gunpowder. [Note: You may go to the top of this site and search this blog for keyword "gunpowder" for an explanation of those terms.] More to the point, if no geographic place for a punishing-rewarding god to reside in exists, or for humans to go to for judgment, then there can be no judgment or punishment. Unfortunately, in the “minds” of persons who are identified with their body, that also means no continuity for the body and no eternal reward for that body to experience. The payoff? Full enjoyment in the NOW, knowing that NOW is the only “time” in which anything can be known or enjoyed.

As a second example, during the “early” sharings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, he sang the bhajans, talked of Brahman as a creator, and spoke of Iswara and Bhagavan as a God or Lord. In his “later” sharings, he showed how even the idea of “God” was just another man-made concept: “You have invented a God, then you worship such a God and do bhajan, and you pray to that God for something good to happen to you.” He realized that it was all just concepts, all inventions of the contaminated consciousness of persons whose conditioning and programming had lulled them into a state of being susceptible to adopting the beliefs and myths and superstitions of the magically-thinking persons of ancient days as well as adopting the interpretations offered by those now among them.

So, too, in “early” sharings, the space called “Floyd” spoke of a male God located in a geographic place. While those sharings were nothing more than pre-realization parrotings that were believed because of programming, these postings are the “later” pointers that are happening spontaneously. On 12 August 2005 [click “2005-08-07” to the right for the full entry] the following was offered regarding the Absolute in an excerpt for the book From the I to the Absolute (A Seven-Step Journey to Reality)

http://floydhenderson.com/iamabsolute.htm ):

Let me read some definitions of ‘absolute’ that point toward the Absolute for us. ‘Complete’ or ‘uncontaminated’ or ‘unconditional.’ Could we say ‘unconditioned?’ Also, ‘not relative,’ ‘unqualified,’ ‘unlimited,’ ‘supreme,’ ‘certain,’ ‘sure,’ ‘entire,’ ‘whole,’ ‘unadulterated,’ or ‘unambiguous.’ And know that ‘supreme’ is just one of ten or more words used to define 'absolute' and should not be taken to have more significance than any of the other words on the list. Nothing about the Absolute should taken to be ‘supreme’ in the sense of being the 'greatest,' the 'loftiest,' the 'best,' the 'ultimate,' the 'sovereign,' the 'ruler,' the 'creator,' or the 'highest.'

To know that when the body “dies” (a) the breath is released and merges with the universal air and (b) the consciousness merges into the universal pool of consciousness is to know that nothing “supreme” or “sovereign” awaits and that no “ruler” or “creator” awaits. More freeing is to know that no punishment awaits, no eternal burning awaits, no magic veil (that a man must pull his wives through) awaits, and no life as a cow awaits. Less welcome to some males would be the fact that no orgy awaits and no harem of virgins, wives and prostitutes awaits. What does await is what can be called "perfect peace" if you know—from the example in yesterday’s post—that a preview of what that peace is like is experienced by any human who enters into the delta level of deep sleep: there is no awareness but conscious-energy remains. Which would be more enjoyable in the manifestation? The rest of deep sleep or trying to rest peacefully with the noise of the constant shouting and the endless singing of praises to a male? True peace—perfect rest—is only found via the former. Only personas want constant praise and the noise of applause for their greatness. Only personas would create a god in man's image. When the pure consciousness merges into the Absolute via Realization, then the perfect peace can happen NOW (even as the consciousness is still manifested) mirroring the perfect peace of the Absolute when the consciousness is no longer manifested. Don’t wait to “die” to be at peace. It would be useless to wait because once the consciousness unmanifests, you’ll not know that the peace exists. “Die” now to live now…to live the AS IF existence that allows feelings to be witnessed as they rise and fall rather than to buy into the emotional intoxication and chaos that false identities generate. Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

“DIE” NOW TO LIVE NOW, Part Two

In response to yesterday’s post, this from Sim, Kentucky, U.S.A.: “So, pure consciousness, the Absolute, is unconsciousness?”

F.: No, but what you received from yesterday’s post has seemingly shifted you closer to the understanding. In case other site visitors drew the same conclusion, your question will be addressed today and tomorrow and then the continuation of yesterday’s post will be presented the following day. For today, pure consciousness and unconsciousness will be addressed, then tomorrow…the Absolute.

First, pure consciousness is that conscious-energy that has not been tainted with any man-made concepts. It may be in the universal pool of consciousness and not yet manifested in a space called a plant or human or animal. It may be manifested in a child that can only witness and is still free of conditioning, programming and concepts (search “Child Ignorance” on this blog). It may be manifested in a Realized space and is the re-purified consciousness, freed of all contaminants, including false beliefs in ego-states, dogma, lies, concepts, ideas, emotional intoxication, and attitudes. Pure consciousness is That, manifested or not. Next, the “unconsciousness.”

Unconsciousness is not the Absolute. The Absolute is consciousness, pure and “at-rest.” That means the consciousness is still consciousness, but it is simply not aware of itSelf. Consciousness can only be aware of itSelf when manifested in the Realized. (Corrupted consciousness allows persons to believe they are aware, but what they are seemingly aware of is the false self, or selves...not the True Self or the Absolute.) Only the pure consciousness can know itSelf, can see the lie of all the false selves, can understand the Absolute and that which happens “post-manifestation,” can know That Which It Is, and can understand the Functioning of the Totality of this universe and of all universes. Unconsciousness, however, is merely a condition that can be experienced by the physical space. Yet your inquiry shows you’re moving closer to the understanding.

Imagine a body that has been racing about all day with its brain operating at the beta level of consciousness. At the end of the day, if time for relaxation is available, the brain wave movements can begin to slow to the alpha level. In bed, the brain waves might slow to the theta rate, and if a human enters the deep-sleep, delta-level of sleep, that human could be considered to be resting in a state of unconsciousness. Yet a sleeping human, a resting plant, a sleeping animal, a human in a coma, a bear hibernating, or a human undergoing surgery may all be "unconscious," yet all are still consciousness.

Take that analogy of a delta-level, deep-sleep state that a physical body can experience, though, to see the similarity with the unmanifested consciousness that has merged with the universal pool of consciousness: consciousness is still "there" (since energy can neither be created nor destroyed) but it is unaware of itSelf. Asleep, you do not know that you are—you are unaware of yourself—yet consciousness remains. If someone enters your bedroom and shouts your name, you become aware of your body and surroundings once more. (Yet know that You are not “in” the Absolute when the consciousness unmanifests. You Are the Absolute. You are THAT. THAT manifested is the consciousness-at-movement which can know its “Is-ness” or “Amness” if pure. Thus, we have the summation of the ancient teaching that was taught thousands of years before Moses plagiarized it and claimed a burning bush was offering the summary: I Am THAT; I Am.)

So, in a delta-level of sleep, the consciousness is not aware of consciousness, but it is still “there,” and conscious-energy in the universal pool is also “there” but does not know it is “there.” Conscious-energy is eternal, never created and never destroyed, but the ancient teaching was bastardized by religions as persons claimed that “the good” among them would have eternal peace, that “the good” would be forever, and that the bodies of “the good” would be forever. They offered just enough of the reality behind the Advaita teachings to tap into that which persons knew but had forgotten. Having been offered something close to the truth, persons took the distortions to be the real and now take their dogma to be so right and so important that they’ll literally die in the fight to force their distorted beliefs onto all the persons of the world.

Now, a final element of the sleep analogy: humans can be in the delta-level of sleep, can get out of bed, and can walk about the house and not even be aware of what they are doing. Others can talk in their sleep and not be aware of what they are saying. Others can day-dream during the daylight hours and not have a clue as to where they are, what they are, or what they are doing. That is the way persons experience their “lives”: they are walking in their sleep while unaware; they are talking in their sleep without having a clue that they are only parroting what others have said repeatedly; they are dreaming a dream all day long while believing they are awake and that their dreams are real. They have been programmed and conditioned to believe that the dream of the planet is real, so they live in an unconscious state—a state in which they are not fully awake, aware, and conscious—but believe that they are awake, believe they know what they are talking about, and believe they know Who/What They Are when, in fact, they haven’t a clue. Have you seen “them” in that condition? Have you seen when "you" are or were in that condition? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

“DIE” NOW TO LIVE NOW

From a site visitor: “You speak of persons and the Realized. Are they exact opposites, and if so, wouldn’t that be a duality?”

F.: Thanks for your inquiry. For the sake of discussion only, yes, persons are those not Realized; however, no dualities exist. What is pointed to with the term “person” and what is pointed to with the term “Realized” are all there is: consciousness. The seeming difference is in “tainted consciousness” (personas) vs. “pure consciousness,” but consciousness is consciousness either way. Persons simply haven’t a clue What They Are while the Realized know They Are That. Understand that to be Realized is to know That Which You Are: consciousness manifested, soon to return to the universal pool of pure consciousness called “the Absolute” when unmanifest. The vocabulary of persons is marred via archetypal and cultural influences, so you hear talk from persons about dualities such as “good and bad,” “heaven and hell,” “reward and punishment,” and “dark and light.” That which is real—conscious energy—cannot be split or divided. “Slice off” a portion of consciousness to manifest from the pool of consciousness and you still have…only consciousness. When that consciousness is “sliced away” from the space in which it was manifested and cycles to the pool of universal consciousness, you still have…only consciousness. Consciousness is That which is indivisible and it is That alone which is real.

In this relative existence, nothing is going on but a breeziness of play, but persons are caught up in a tornado of work, in a storm of seriousness, and in a tempest of drama. So-called “life” in this sphere of consciousness is just a process of functioning, and while the “mind” of a person will dream up notions about separation and differentitation, none exists. The process just keeps on happening. A belief or a concept, a religion or a philosophy, a state or a nation, a hero or a villian…all are just part of the process of functioning. All those are just dreamed up names, all such dreamed up labels “create” a false sense of reality, and all the concepts are thought by persons to be different; in fact, all labels and concepts are the product of contaminated consciousness only. Your question “Are they exact opposites,” however, offers the opportunity to consider an interesting take on the Functioning of the Totality.

Persons, even though they take themselves to be the roles they play, are no different from the Realized. All is consciousness. Persons believe that they and other persons "die"; the Realized know that consciousness simply cycles into manifestation and out of manifestation. The exact same providence awaits those who take themselves to be persons as well as those who know What They Really Are: the untimate fate of all manifested consciousness is that it will be re-absorbed into the pool of universal consciousness. All will once again be consciousness-at-rest at some point. (“What about reincarnation?” one visitor asked recently. Other comments in that visitor’s e-mail showed that the writer doesn’t understand that his own “birth” was a result of a simple act of friction. What need to concern oneself with the nonsense of multiple births if one doesn’t even know how one baby was “made” and that there are no births?) The guaranteed cycling of consciousness means that those who believe themselves to be persons will eventually be free of all concerns, just as the Realized will eventually be free of all concerns. When the consciousness unmanifests, it knows nothing. Ultimately, it is irrelevant if that speck of consciousness when manifested knew Itself or if it mistook itself for the roles that the corrupted consciousness leads persons to think they are. The only difference happens NOW: persons suffer chaos and emotional intoxication while the Realized witness and feel, but after the consciousness is no longer manifested, the result is the same: consciousness will be at-rest. As Szent-Gyorgyi said, “What drives life is … a little electric current, set up by the sunshine.” Know that truth, then what room remains for arrogance, for ego, or for assumed ego-states as identities? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

PERSONS ARE PRISONERS WITH NO DESIRE FOR INDEPENDENCE, Part Two

F.: Persons talk a great deal about their power and their freedom, but the fact is that they are driven by the “desire-fear” factor to create dependencies and co-dependencies with imagined beings here and with imagined Beings there. Independence is the opposite of dependence, so their drive to be dependent actually leaves them with no freedom at all. As for power, any dependency results in powerlessness, not power. A person dependent on anything cannot be independent, a person dependent cannot be free, and persons not free cannot be happy, no matter what claims they make to the contrary. Because persons are trapped in their programming, they can believe themselves to be powerful when they are powerless; can believe themselves to be making choices when they are being driven subconsciously; can believe they are generally happy when they are suffering depression; and can believe that “that was then…this is now” when in fact their "past" is still very much their “now.”

One protégé described a father who was physically and verbally abusive, able to use his tongue to slice away any esteem or self-respect the child might have had. The father was emotionally-unavailable and usually physically unavailable. His looks when angry sent a message that he could kill, and his moods were so unstable that hug-slug became a way of life: say “hello” as he came in one evening and get a hug; say “hello” the next evening and get slugged. The protégé contacted me as an adult on the occasion of his marriage dissolving. He did not have a clue as to why.

After understanding that his “then” was still very much his “now,” he came to see how his programming had inspired his compulsion for repetition: he had married a woman who said the vilest comments imaginable and who used her tongue to slice away any esteem or self-respect he had. She was emotionally-unavailable and her facial expression when angry sent a message that she hoped he would die. Her moods were unstable and what she loved on Monday she could hate on Friday. He had read these writings about the power of programming, but he had never related to them in the least until an exchange of e-mails finally revealed that he had found someone to assume the familiar role of his father and to continue the abuse that he had been conditioned to believe was “normal” and “deserved.” He married a female-version of his abusive father and got the same abuse in that relationship that he received as a child with his dad.

Programming and conditioning can make the desire to find that which is “familiar” a goal, no matter how unnatural the familiar might have been or continues to be. An unbelievably painful “then” typically becomes a similarly painful “now," but persons have no ability to break the cycle as long as they wander through their existence in the sleep state: unawake, unaware, unconsiousness. That is the typical state of persons, whether in bed or driving or at work. Like the male described above and the many other men just like him, the teachings have offered insight to certain women as well. Some few of them have seen that the power of their programming influenced them to choose men who would replace the male or female abusers from their childhoods. Sometimes the abuse was physical, sometimes sexual, sometimes mental, or sometimes emotional, but always the programming and conditioning were driving the compulsion to repeat the earlier, familiar experiences. Programming and conditioning trap persons into roles and prevent their shifting away from the confines of their warped personalities and all the suffering that results. Most will never want to be free because they are living the prison-type life that all the other persons around them are living—a type of life that is said to be “normal” in this world. Few will ever cross the path of an Advaitan, but the typical human beings who do will dismiss the words. Why?

Because no Advaitic teachings are offered for typical humans beings. Their ability to see anything beyond their limited identification with a body is negligible. These postings are meant for those who have tired of the drama, gotten an inkling that all they’ve ever been told is fiction, are beginning to see that their past programming has them trapped in various false identities, and are now ready to begin questioning it all in order to re-purify the consciousness. They are seeing that the words of the poet Lovelace, that “stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage” are true. Only when persons begin to understand that the “mind” is the prison (because it is a conglomeration of ideas and beliefs and dogma and attitudes and learned ignorance that drives persons and makes them powerless) only then will they be ready for the Advaita message. Only then will they abandon the search for “peace of mind” and focus all effort on being “free of mind,” period. Eventually, if all seven steps to reality are taken, then all concentrated effort will end and spontaneous living will happen.

Yet it is only when the consciousness is pure—when no personality or individuality remains—that spontaneous living happens. And only when spontaneous living is happening can complete freedom truly manifest. Prisoners haven’t a shred of spontaneity in their lives. Persons in this culture who think they are free and are tapping into a power are not free or powerful at all if they are not living spontaneously. And persons are not living spontaneously if they are "here" each day of the week at this time, are "there" each day at that time, and can be found on one particular day of the week at the same location, week in and week out. They, instead, are living in the kind of rut that robs persons of all joy and bliss even as they are claiming that it is their routine which gives them joy and bliss. Look into their eyes while in their assigned places, saying their routine sayings and hearing the routine sayings, and see that spontaneity has gone and that death-in-life has come.

Only those who are truly free can live spontaneously. What are you depending on? Do you really believe that you can be free as long as you are depending on anything? Would you be willing to look objectively at all your dependencies and see exactly what freedom is actually being lost as a result of dependence? What about the dependencies you’ve given up but then substituted other dependencies for? Are you willing to evaluate those dependencies and their toll as well? Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
Tomorrow: “DIE” NOW TO LIVE NOW

PERSONS ARE PRISONERS WITH NO DESIRE FOR INDEPENDENCE, Part One

F.: Persons (as opposed to the Realized) develop dependencies and co-dependencies. While they may give lip service to being “free” or “independent,” what they do speaks louder than what they say. Notice the evidence of how dependent persons really are in this culture:

1. Recent survey results have been shared on this site, revealing that 2000 recently-married men and women unwittingly admitted that they had married in order to create more ego-states and to establish dependencies and co-dependencies. The top three reasons women gave for marrying "him" dealt with his income and job prospects. They each established a dependency on a man and created an entire set of co-dependent ego-states in the process. The top three reasons men offered for marrying "her" dealt with physical sex, so they each established a dependency on a woman and created an entire set of co-dependent ego-states.

2. Millions are members of groups that they depend on.

3. Billions are dependent on a god that they claim can be equally kind and mean, equally helpful and destructive, as the two preceding posts on the site revealed.

4. 87% in the U.S. believe in angels and believe that those angels are hovering nearby and can be depended on to protect them.

As long as the least sense of personality or individuality remains, then the consciousness is impure. As long as magical, supernatural beliefs—beliefs that were dreamed up by ignorant men over 5000 years ago—are taken by persons today to be the truth, then the consciousness will remain impure. Impure consciousness will drive persons to be dependent and therefore not free and thus trapped in experiencing all the chaos of the “Drama of the Lie.”

What do persons experience in their day-to-day drama? Have you ever felt as if your heart had been crushed as a “relationship” ended, even if it ended calmly with such comments as “We are in love, but we don’t have the skills required to live together peacefully”? Have you ever felt as if your esteem and sense of self-worth were trampled as a “relationship” ended viciously with such comments as “I never loved you” and “I was using you the whole time, you fool”? Those dramas ended as the curtains closed on the "relationships," but the ego-states that should have ended at the same time can still be fighting for their existence or mourning their disappearance. Are you yet in a “relationship” that is loaded with chaotic acts and confrontational scenes with arguments that deal with much ado about nothing? Looking back at the motives that initially inspired the trip to that theatre of battle together, how much of the incentive involved wanting someone to care for you or provide for you (also known as, “seeking to create dependencies as an answer to a perceived need or a strong desire for more”?) What was driving that perceived need or desire? An ego-state? A false identity assumed to be real? The belief that you need someone else to provide for you? An egotistical sense of entitlement that you deserve to be taken care of?

The reality is that your drama is a fraud, a giant hoax. If you are suffered from impure consciousness, the lines that you are delivering in quarrelsome scenes are overly-dramatic. Your tastes in drama are more toward tragedy than comedy. You have played your roles for so long, and you have been so programmed by your culture, that you have taken those roles to be who you are. If you looked closely, you would see that the stage on which you’re acting is really inside a prison. You strut across the stage while playing a prideful role or while playing your sometimes-angry, sometime-happy roles, but the fact is you and the stage and the other actors in your drama are still confined within your prison. You never asked to be locked away and forced to play all those roles, but they were forced upon you via enculturation and what you call your "mind." And every belief or idea or concept clung to in that "mind" forms another brick in the wall that encircles your prison. You might leave your home and drive to a store or to work or to visit friends or to visit another city. Moving about like that, you'll think you're really free, but ultimately you're always confined within the walls of that prison-mind.

That condition has been visited upon you by early programming and conditioning which resulted in your ego-states, has been given continuity by the false roles that you take to be real, and has been clung to as a result of an unconscious addiction to the chaos that marks your drama. The battle scenes in your drama are based in much ado about nothing, so your drama is nothing and it will be nothing forever. That Which You Truly Are can never be what you try to make of yourself, and what you try to make of yourself will always be a source of imprisonment in the “mind” that is dreaming up the roles and the scenes and the acts and the lines that your various personalities deliver with much pomp and circumstance.

The gatekeeper of your prison is Realization. Realization can free you from the roles, and freedom from those roles will free you from the drama. Yet most persons are so addicted to the chaos, so lost in the drama, and so removed from reality that they will never search for a way out of their prison. They will move about within the confines of their prison and believe that they are free. Few will ever have any desire to be totally independent. Fewer still will take the seven-step “journey” to reality and know true freedom and absolute independence. Most will fight to the end in defense of nonsensical, magical beliefs that were dreamed up by uneducated men during ancient times. What about you? How free do you want to be? How soon do you want that freedom? What steps are you willing to take to have the independence that results in a sense of bliss? Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

THEIR ANGRY “GOD OF PEACE”—Part Two

F.: Posted yesterday from a site visitor in New Orleans, LA, U.S.A.: “I found your site recently and thank you for the insight you offer. Now, my question: the mayor of our city has announced that the storms which hit the region last year were sent by God out of anger. I find that hard to believe. Your thoughts?”

Here are additional considerations in lieu of thoughts:

A. Is it possible that, if persons have a concept of an angry God, they’ll believe others who claim that naturally-occurring disasters are supernatural in origin?

B. Is it possible that, if the majority of persons in a culture have a concept of an angry God who chooses followers of one religion over another—even if they all claim to be worshipping the same god—you’ll have religious wars that span several millennia?

C. Is it possible that, if the majority of persons in a culture have a concept of a co-dependent God (meaning a god whose moods shift constantly as a result of what humans do), you’ll have some instances where people die of natural causes but their deaths will be attributed to a god’s lethal anger and unstable disposition?

D. Is it possible that, if the majority of persons in a culture have a concept of a god that is angry and destructive and warlike, you’ll have angry, destructive, and warlike persons among his followers?

E. And is it possible that, if the majority of persons in a culture believe in 4000-year-old angry-god concepts dreamed up by men, you’ll see persons murdering all of those who refuse to fight in the name of their god and all of those who offer a truly peaceful, Advaitan message of oneness, of the falseness of dualities like heaven and hell, and of equality?

1. Christ: “No one shall ever see heaven—it’s within.” Killed.

2. M. L. King, Jr.: “We are all one…equal.” Killed.

3. John Lennon: “Imagine there's no heaven…it's easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky.” Killed.

If one worships a killer god, then all killing can be justified and explained away as "the will of god." The instrument of mass killings may be God-OK’d bombings, God-ordained flying of jets into occupied buildings, God-approved invasions of other nations, God-orchestrated storms, or God-created floods, fires, earthquakes and all the subsequent death and destruction. Two considerations are, first, “WHO (what ego-states) would seek alignment with such an entity?” Secondly, “If you are Realized, how grateful are You for knowing that no such entity exists, thus allowing you the freedom to be sane and rational as well as free to live an AS IF existence without trying to please an entity that suffers from bi-polar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and co-dependency?” Get yourself some angry, destructive people, allow them to come up with a dualistic concept of a god created in the image of man, get persons to buy into that concept and become dedicated to that entity, and you’ll be assured a continuous supply of angry and destructive persons as the programming and conditioning is passed down from one generation to the next.

Now some who have suffered mentally or emotionally from worship of that angry god believe that the solution is to come up with a new concept of a god that is not "a killer" but is "kind" instead. The old concept was dreamed up by persons. The new concept is dreamed up by a person. Yet in all cases, dreamed up concepts are dreamed up concepts…ideas that must be cast aside if the truth is to be seen. Advaitic teachings invite protégés to think “outside the box.” Typically, persons dealing with a confusing concept of a god think, “Well, if I don’t like 'their' concept of god, I’ll come up with a new concept of my own.” That makes as much sense as saying, “Since the snake in the rope is making me fearful and miserable, I’ll going to stop believing it’s a cobra in a rope and start believing that it’s just a rattlesnake in a rope.” Cast aside all concepts if you would be free.

Bliss only happens in the absence of all ideas, dogma, emotional intoxication, and beliefs. (One need but see that more people have died from religious wars and religious persecution than from any other cause except natural events. What they say can sound very good, but what they do speaks far louder than their words.) It should be clear why those with all their concepts have no chance at all to know the bliss and are thus driven to engage in the fighting and/or the killing instead. Let zero concepts be your goal. Again, the journey to sanity—to being in touch with reality—begins by questioning it all and discarding it all. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

THEIR ANGRY “GOD OF PEACE”--Part One

From a site visitor in New Orleans, LA, U.S.A.: “I found your blog recently and thank you for the insights you offer. Now, my question: the mayor of our city has announced that the storms which hit the region last year were sent by God out of anger. I find that hard to believe. I only returned recently but I'm already making arrangements to leave permanently. Your thoughts?”

F.: Thanks for the e-mail. Rather than thoughts, how about some considerations that invite persons to be free of the delusions of their magical thinking?

1. Religious people like your mayor claim they turn to their “God” for peace, so how is it that the one they turn to for peace is so often angry himself? (“Himself” is used since your mayor joins the majority in this nation and the world who believe in a god of male gender.)

2. Were all of those in your city (and those along the coast and many miles inland) who lost their homes, their family members, or their own lives the ones who were “the bad ones”? Were the ones who did not lose homes, family members, or their lives “the good ones”? Or when that god’s wrath is provoked by earthings, are “the innocent” as well as “the guilty” all punished or killed equally without discrimination? Consider the duality involved with all those beliefs.

3. This is the same God that for thousands of years has reportedly killed 6000 here, 120,000 there, and finally everyone on earth except one family. By even the most liberal definitions, are the followers of that god not worshipping a mass murderer and an organizer of genocide who killed on a grander scale than Columbus, Hitler and the Europeans who invaded the “Americas,” all combined?

Here’s how that God of Abraham, and the actions of those dedicated to the three religions that are outgrowths of his writings, were addressed in Spiritual Sobriety (Recovering What Religions Lost) http://floydhenderson.com/spiritualsobriety.htm :

On 9/11/2001, a group of Islamic fundamentalists commandeered two commerical airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center Towers in New York City, explaining that Allah had told them to attack the Jewish and Christian infidels influencing the world economy from those buildings. SO THE GOD OF ISLAM WAS FOR ATTACKING THE TOWERS. Fundamentalist Judaeo-Christian minister Jerry Falwell disagreed, explaining that the towers were knocked down as God’s punishment for the proliferation of non-Christians, gays, and feminists in the U.S. SO THE GOD OF JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY WAS FOR ATTACKING THE TOWERS. A Fundamentalist Muslim minister, on the anniversary of the 9/11 attack said that God approved the attack since “if Allah had not wanted the Towers knocked down, they could not have been knocked down.” SO THE GOD OF ISLAM OK’D THE ATTACK ON THE TOWERS THAT KILLED 2800 PEOPLE. A reporter asked the Fundamentalist, Born-Again President George Bush if he had talked with his father (a former president) before attacking Iraq and dropping U.S. bombs on Baghdad. Bush pointed upward and said that he had talked to “The Father.” During that talk between Bush and God, God evidently gave the president the go-ahead to drop bombs on a city and kill thousands of women, children, and men in Iraq. In announcing the beginning of the attack on Iraq to the people of the U.S., Bush invoked God’s blessing on U.S. soldiers and their war effort. SO THE JUDAEO-CHRISTIAN GOD OK’D KILLING IRAQIS.

Is it any wonder that Judaism, Christianity and Islam talk more about their prophets—Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed—than about their god? That is understandable, considering their beliefs about their god’s vengeful behavior. That leads to another consideration for today: “If such a male-god actually exists, and if his followers are right (that he is driven by his anger to kill thousands of people, to anniliate homes and communities, and to destroy families), who would seek to depend on that entity, to be close to that entity, or to believe that he is a source of peace?” WHO has what to gain by suggesting that love and worship that result from threat and intimidation is the way to go? And what kind of god could be so involved in self-deception that he would believe that love and worship offered as a result of threat and intimidation is "true love"? An upcoming post will address why persons are prisoners who actually have no desire at all for independence, but the key pointer for today is that the “journey” to sanity—to being in touch with reality—begins by questioning it all. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

PERSONS EMOTE…THE REALIZED FEEL

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From a site visitor: “You say that you witness feelings but don’'t attach emotion to them. Seems to me that at the initial point of the feeling when someone makes "you" mad or hurts "you" that there is an instance of emotion that you must consciously will away.”

F.: 1. If persons could consciously “will away” emotions, then the 59% of all women killed in the U.S. each year (killed, by the way, during the breakup of a "relationship") would still be alive today. If persons could consciously “will away” emotions, then persons would not be living minute-by-minute and day-by-day in the state of emotional intoxication that most live in. And if persons could consciously “will away” emotions, then they would not be carrying resentments for years or be experiencing pain from perceived loss or suffering for years.

2. Secondly, it is impossible to “attach” an emotion to a feeling. It would be like trying to attach a mirage to the road. Only ego-states emote and only personas experience emotional intoxication. Thus, the Realized—the Pure Consciousness—cannot “will away” anything since it does not “buy into” the false belief that an attack on a false identity is an actual threat; therefore, it does not experience emotions or emotional intoxication. What persons emote over, the Realized see as much ado about nothing. “Nothing” need not to be “willed away.” It would be tantamount to screaming for someone to remove the rope in the dark corner that you think is a threatening snake. Realization casts light on all the dark lies and delusions that persons take to be truth, and that’s why the Realized would never be misled into trying to “will away” a mirage in the road ahead. Only persons, living in ego-states as they do, have such an experience (and they have that experience over and over, all their days and all their lives).

3. Those who want to continue with their emotions always insert into the "casting aside emotions” discussion the defense that they “don’t want to become robots.” Their argument is generated from their ego-states that are fighting for their right to continue to experience emotional intoxication, chaos, destructive behavior, and all the accompanying suffering while claiming that, for the most part, they "are living a good life and are happy most of the time.” It will be shown that those persons speaking despairingly of a robotic state are actually the ones who are already experiencing a robotic existence.

Persons (personas) can only emote while mistaking their emoting for “feelings.” Persons cannot feel. Their experiences, abuse, and suffering have deadened their feelings, so it is those who are not Realized who can concern themselves with being robotic, not the Realized. Robots move as if asleep. They have no consciousness. They are programmed and can do only what they are programmed to do. Persons, not the Realized, move about as if asleep, as if unconscious, as if programmed and therefore powerless.

The Realize can feel, whereas persons exist with brief periods of seeming happiness, followed by the misery of emotional intoxication. The Realized witness feelings rise and fall. The difference in a person being angry and in the Realized feeling anger can be detected in what follows: persons react and trigger a series of reactions while the Realized observe whatever they feel as that feeling rises and falls. By witnessing rather than reacting, a feeling like anger can be seen by the Realized, can be felt, and can then be seen to disappear.

Emoting will reverse the natural order of operation in the relative existence and lead persons to live unnaturally. When threats are perceived, the natural order of response is (1) flight first and then (2) fight only if necessary. The unnatural order is (a) fight first and then (b) flight as a second option. Feelings results from natural responses via the brain (e.g., the amygdala can trigger a natural, survival-driven, reactive response that results in flight as option one and fight as option two.) Emotions are unnatural responses via the “mind” and can trigger an unnatural, destruction-driven series of reactive responses that result in fighting being option one (to preserve the ego-state) and flight (escape) becomes option two.

Thus, if "wife" tells ego-state "husband" that she's leaving, he'll fight to preserve his identity by trying to make her stay. Often, he'll play “kind” and if that doesn't work, he'll play mean. The unnatural response can be destructive, killing her and/or himself. Or he may turn to drugs or alcohol or risky sexual behavior as option two...all methods used in trying to flee from, or escape, the perceived threat. Emotions result in emotional intoxication; conversely, feelings are felt, then witnessed as they rise and fall. The Realized, living in an AS IF fashion, can still witness the sadness that is felt in natural responses to happenings in the relative existence, but only persons will be driven to take the type of actions that are generated from the emotional intoxication of ego-states that are perceiving threat. No such series of escalating reactions are triggered by feelings. Even deer—living naturally as they do—certainly seem to feel sad and seem to grieve for a time if their mates are found dead. But no grieving deer has ever gotten a good running start and rammed its head into an oak tree to try to kill itself. Eventually, it just moves on...without any harmful reaction.

Feelings are natural; emotions are unnatural. Those who have completed the seven-step “journey to reality” feel; persons are trapped in the chaos of their emotions. Two “paths” are clearly marked, but few are ever willing to abandon their addiction to chaos and follow the path to peace. In the militarized, war-like, ego-driven cultures of the West, the path to peace is anathema. Give the Realized an option and he’ll walk away from a fight; give a non-Realized man an army and he will attack. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

TOMORROW: Their Angry "God of Peace"

It Is YourSELF That You Are Actually Seeking

F.: In yesterday’s post, an invitation was presented to know the beingness but to transcend even that and merge into the Absolute. In the vision, http://floydhenderson.com/article1.htm, the beingness is known when the sixth level—the True Self, the Pure Witness—is reached; however, it at the final seventh level where even Selfness is transcended, where the borderline between beingness and non-beingness is crossed, and where the consciousness is absorbed into the Absolute that the perfect rest is known. From there, the Functioning of the Totality is understood and the movement from the Absolute to the relative (and to the misery of a limited identification with body) happens:

Then, before fading into the perfect peace of rest in the Totality, Your last consciousness is of the process that had moved That Which You Are from the rest state in the Absolute, past the non-being and into being, and then into whatever that True Self was. You see how you came to witness, how the learned ignorance corrupted the pure consciousness of the child state, how spiritual and religious roles were assigned, how mental identities were accumulated, and how dominated the existence was by the physical body’s fears and desires. You KNOW. And then, even that dissolves. THAT is all there is.

With that understanding, one knows how the consciousness-at-rest manifests, how it is programmed and conditioned through the various stages to create all the ego-states that lead to human suffering, and how eventually it unmanifests and is consciousness-at-rest again. The infinite cyclings are understood. When THAT is known, how could any of the longing that frustrates persons be experienced? It cannot. When THAT is known, how could any of the desires that leave persons with a sense of emptiness be experienced? They cannot. When THAT is known, how could any of the fears that paralyze persons be experienced? They cannot.

To know that You Are the Absolute is to know that you are undying because You Are unborn. You Are That Which Is, Was, and Shall Be, devoid of body or mind when unmanifested and capable of being free of body identification and a corrupted “mind” while manifested via Full Realization. You are invited to see how all desire and longing and fear can be transcended when you no longer embrace the limited identity of a physical body with its (corrupted) “mind.” Those who programmed you were the ones who handed you the belief in a limited, fragile identity. Now, because you have bought into their concepts, you have handed yourself over to the concepts of “birth,” “meaning,” and “death” which, in turn, have resulted in the suffering that comes with fears, desires, and the frustrations of unmet expectations. They inflicted all that on you. By embracing their beliefs, you now continue to inflict all of the fears, desires, and frustrations on yourself.

Only by rejecting the false self and coming to know the True Self can happiness manifest in the relative existence. Do you still not see how “they” have set you up to be miserable? Do you still not see how you were fooled by having their concepts pumped into you as a child? Do you not see that it is all of their bizarre ideas and magical beliefs and rigid dogma and perverted, supernatural thinking that became accumulated into what you call "your mind" that is now the source of all of your frustration and suffering, that is the inspiration for all of your "destructive behavior," and is a key contributor to all of the failed "relationships" in your relative existence? Every corrupted element of your consciousness came from your lessons from "them" and from your experiences with “them.” They abused you, either mentally, emotionally, or physically. Now, you are repeating all those patterns, finding abusers who parallel their conduct and beliefs and then letting them continue the abuse you suffer. Too, you are abusing others subconsciously as a result of all that you have suffered. The cause of all is all that ever happened before, so you need not be blamed or guilty or remorseful. Yet you are being invited to break the pattern and end the cycle of madness by taking the seven-step "journey" to reality. What you are seeking will not provide the relief now being sought.

Why, then, are so many seeking and searching, and why are they then suffering the subsequent frustration of not finding that which they are seeking? Because they do not know that they are, in fact, that which they are seeking and searching for. The only search that can produce any fruit at all is not the search for a noble cause or for a way to change the world “for the better.” The only search that can produce any fruit at all is the search for Self. You Are That which you are seeking! You do not know Who You Are, and you believe that You are that which you are not. Find that True Self and from that platform You will witness purely and clearly the Absolute. Find That and then all the emptiness that drives the search for “this” and the seeking of “that” will end. Peace will happen. Please enter into the silence of contemplation.

Functioning While Enjoying the Freedom of “No Purpose or Meaning”

F.: To end the discussion of the frustration that comes in the search for meaning and purpose, understand the central problem: that which is being explained to you on this site—or via any Realized Advaitan—has no relationship at all to your worldly or so-called spiritual knowledge. Persons have no desire to forfeit the accumulation of knowledge that they value so much, yet it is via their worldly and spiritual concepts (which are all false) that they are trying to find the truth. Your comments reveal that it is via the lies dreamed up by men that you have been trying to solve the puzzle of your existence, but it is those very same dreamed-up lies which you are trying to use in your task that prevent your finding any truth at all, that make you “frustrated,” and that “keep you up at night.”

The Realized have no ego-states that are seeking meaning or purpose, but that does not mean that functioning ends. To Realize is to understand the Functioning of the Totality. The functioning in the case of a Realized teacher is singular: to invite proteges to understand that all human suffering is rooted in false beliefs, to see that all ideas are false in order that human suffering can end, and to know that human suffering can end by way of taking the seven-step journey to reality.

For their suffering to end, persons must understand the functioning of the totality; must see that all suffering is rooted in the assumption of ego-states as false identities; must realize that they have no “mind” but instead are being driven by the “minds” of others (which they now think is their own "mind"); must be aware of the fact that a “mind” is nothing more than the storehouse of all the lies and beliefs and ideas and concepts that must be cast aside in order to end human suffering; and must see the limitations of doingness but the timelessness and limitless nature of beingness. Yet the goal here is not to encourage you to rejoice in that beingness. The goal is to know that beingness, yes, but to transcend even that and then merge into the Absolute, allowing all ego-states to vanish in the process. Only then will you be beyond all of the effects of conditioning and programming that are driving your every thought and action. Talk about powerless, even as you are seeking power!

Frustration results from a sense of limitation. Frustration cannot end, therefore, as long as humans are identified with that which is limited: a physical body, a “mind,” and the corrupted consciousness. I Am not personal; I have no individuality, so how could I have individual meaning or an individual purpose? The consciousness is manifested, so whatever happens…happens. Nothing more is involved.

Some Advaitans discuss the “working mind” as opposed to the “thinking mind.” For a time, if that tool proves useful, use it. Later, all tools and concepts (including those used by all Advaitan teachers) are to be tossed. For the sake of this posting, consider the thinking mind to be the storehouse of all the corruptions that have been accumulated via enculturation and to be the "mind" that buys into supernatural and unnatural concepts. Consider the working mind to be the brain functioning in conjunction with the intuitive, sixth sense which together can distinguish between the reality of being vs. the illusions of “being this” or “being that.” Believing one’s True Self to be one or more of your illusory false selves (such as “Tom the Husband,” “Mary the Wife,” “Bill the Employee,” “Jenny the Boss”) will block the seeing of the truth of mere beingness and will lead persons to believe the lies of “being this role or that role.”

To illustrate, picture yourself driving down one of those straight roads in Arizona on a hot August afternoon at 3 P.M. Imagine the mirages that appear to be in the road some distance ahead. Imagine too that you believe the mirages to be so real and so threatening that you swerve off the road, have a wreck, and suffer the mental, physical and emotional consequences of the subsequent injuries. Now, if you see that you have taken your false images to be who you are, review how often they have determined the course you've followed. Then you’ll understand that illusions (or images or false identities or ego-states or roles or personas…call them what you will) have led to all of your mental, physical, and emotional suffering.

You need not have an ego-state that is defined by “meaning” or “purpose” to still participate in the Functioning of the Totality for as long as the consciousness is manfested. If the consciousness is repurified by removing the garbage called “your beliefs and ideas and concepts,” happiness can happen. If no effort is made to repurify the consciousness, then a chaotic, miserable existence is assured. As pure consciousness speaks, it can end the suffering being experienced by persons if they are led to abandon the false and know the Real. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

WHO Wants Meaning and Purpose?—Part Nine

F.: Today’s posting will discuss suggestions “h” through “k” on the original list [see 7 January 2006].

“Purpose” and “meaning” are more of the stuff that dreams are made of, and dreams are unreal…nothing more than reflections of the ego among persons identified with body. WHO—what ego-state—could want meaning and purpose if it is understood that what is real has never even lived? How could any “life” be thought to have meaning if it is realized that You—That Which You Truly Are—Are beyond the cyclings of elements (via acts of friction) and Are beyond “death” by virtue of being beyond “birth”?

To return to the jungle tribe used as an example in an earlier post: all of the members of the tribe were engaged in beingness, not in doingness. That is a sign of contentment. They have no words in their language for “stress,” “restless,” “discontented,” “clock,” “work,” “purpose,” “meaning,” “irritation,” “rush,” “speed,” “hurry,” “busy,” “business” (“busy-ness”), “noble,” or “important.” Film of their daily activities showed every member smiling no matter what was happening though they have no mode of transportation other than their feet or a canoe, no air conditioning, no electronic devices, no stoves or microwaves, no cellphones with their constant ringing and chatter, no electricity…nothing, in fact, that most persons in the West believe to be so essential. If someone in the West “loses power” for three days, his life is in shambles. The villagers have never had power for a day and are not seeking any power at all. They are merely being.

When they were shown a film of persons in the West that revealed the lifestyle here, they could not believe such could be happening or would be happening. When offered an opportunity to travel to the West and see first-hand what was happening in this culture, they could not imagine why anyone would even consider so senseless a trip. That which a jungle-bound human with no formal education rejected outright in a matter of seconds is exactly what the masses in this culture are absorbed in trying to gain. Yet deep within, is there not a sense that what they have should be far more sought after?

Of course most cannot literally “drop out” and move to the jungle and live so carefree a life. But all can drop out of the insanity and move to a peaceful state. How? By giving up all extra and unnecessary effort and work and by being free of ego in order to be free, period.

All stress among persons is ego-generated and is therefore based in a lie and need not be experienced. Stress is nature’s natural reaction to actual threat. If those in the jungle are wading into a river to fish and see a crocodile moving toward them, they become stressed and inspired to take defensive action and move away from the threat. Having removed themselves from the threat, a sense of calm returns. In the West, stress results as an unnatural reaction to perceived, but not real, threats. Assuming false roles to be a true identity, anything that challenges a person's image will be taken as a threat and will result in a sensation of stress. Persons have no way to remove themselves from a sense of threat because they believe that a threat to expose their roles is an actual assault. Believing a false threat to be real prevents any possibility for calm to return. Whereas a fisherman living in the jungle can physically remove himself from a real threat, those trapped in their false identities can never mentally or emotionally remove themselves from perceived threats against their ego-states. If “wife” is leaving, “husband” can no longer exists. That ego-state will feel threatened, will believe that the threat is real no matter how many friends or counselors offer a contrary opinion, will feel stress, will be driven to defend itself, and will therefore lash out at whatever or whoever the false role believes is the source of a life-threatening action. Life-threatening? Yes. Once the false identity of “husband” is taken to be real, it cannot exist without the co-dependent partner that all ego-states require for their (false) “existence.” It is that illusion—believing that a threat to an ego-state is an actual threat—that results in a revealing statistic: in urban areas, 59% of all women killed are killed by a partner during a breakup; 41% of all men that are killed are murdered under the same circumstances. No wonder the detectives in a murder investigation go first to a partner or spouse as the key suspect.

And it is the same delusional thinking that drives persons to want additional ego-states that can only exist if they have “meaning” and “purpose.” Once Realized, You can live with peace in the busiest environment and can engage in an occupation that others find stressful while remaining unattached to the fray. The chaos generated by persons can be swirling all about You, but You will only witness the insanity rather than being pulled into it. Free of all ego and ego-states, no false threats—and therefore no unjustified stress—can be experienced. That Which You Are will not experience all the threats that persons seem to experience. The tasks of your job can happen…or not, and no false threat will be perceived. You may not be able to join the idyllic community of a remote jungle tribe, and you probably have no desire to do so, but You can move from your culture’s chaos to that jungle’s type of peace by purifying the consciousness That You Are of all the contaminates of programming and conditioning that resulted in a “mind” that believes the lies of your culture. Be free of the lies and you’ll be free of their fooling you; and when they can no longer fool you with their concepts, You will be free. You will then be free enough to ignore those who would have you seek power from without and you can pay more attention to those who invite you to realize that you already have all that is needed...within; that all concepts, including “purpose” and “meaning,” are dead weight that need not be dragged around; and that the ego, which drives all ego-states, is the engine pushing your search. You will give up the search, knowing that what you seek is an illusion of your culture. You would not race up and down the highways of New Mexico trying to catch a mirage. Why race up and down “the highways of your existence,” trying to do the same?

To fail to know the True Self will leave persons absorbed with the busy-ness of their false self or selves. Absorbed in the illusion of self, and trying to find a purpose for something that is false to begin with, will leave one feeling useless and will drive the “mind” in a way that creates in the head a sound like the chatter of a thousand monkeys. That chatter is the chatter of each false identity screaming for you and the world to believe it’s real. When the chatter becomes unbearable, many use a gun to try to stop the noise once and for all. That can be the result of believing in “meaning,” not finding “meaning,” feeling empty as a result, and then ending the body as a result of thinking one’s life is hollow, meaningless, and without purpose. Yet it was only when the Realization came that “my” life needed no noble meaning or egotistical purpose that the next step to true freedom was revealed. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

TOMORROW: Functioning Even While Enjoying the Freedom of "No Purpose or Meaning"

WHO Wants Meaning and Purpose?—Part Eight

F.: Today’s posting will discuss suggestions “f” and “g” on the original list: ignore those who tell you answers and instead, question it all; and consider that you do not need more but that you need far less instead.

Why, with those who would follow the “path” to Realization and the accompanying freedom and bliss, is an Advaitan’s first suggestion always to “see that all concepts are false”? Until it is seen that all of man’s so-called religious and spiritual knowledge is false—dreamed up by arrogant men who cannot say “I don’t know” and who use their teachings to control others—then no freedom or bliss can happen. Those who claim you need more knowledge, more work, more disciplines to engage in, more study, more this, or more that will set you on a lifetime course of seeking and searching and striving to do all of the extra work they prescribe. Such work is most unnatural. Look to humankind’s existence prior to the time that self-appointed priests, medicine men, gurus, et. al. came up with all their supernatural concepts—which they have used to give them power and to try to control the masses—if you would see what sane, natural living looks like.

Anthropological studies reveal that early humans—like many in remote jungle regions today—“worked” 2.5 hours to survive. Interestingly, their “work” is what many pay money to do as a "vacation" today: hunt, fish, etc. The rest of the time was spent in recreation: communal activities, sex, swimming, running, playing, etc. Today, the cultures of accumulation drive the persons in those communities to a lifestyle that is the reverse of what is natural because of the expense of maintaining accumulations. Those costs force persons to work most of the daylight hours and to have only 2.5 hours to “relax” at the end of the workday before going to bed, getting up early, and starting all over again. Then, priests, gurus, guides, sponsors, etc. would have you squeeze into that burdensome schedule all of their religious and spiritual exercises and service work and meetings and book studies, ad infinitum. What chance exists, in the midst of such chaos and activity, for any opportunity to relax and take it easy?

A recent study of a remote Central America tribe revealed that the community in its entire history has never experienced a suicide and has never worked more than a few hours a day for survival. Depression did not exist among the tribespeople. Bi-polar conditions did not exist. Obsessive thinking did not exist, so compulsive behaviors did not exist. Religion and religious dogma did not exist. Spiritual exercises were not engaged in. No one suffered ADD, ADHD, or autism since their children were not given twenty-four immunizations before the age of two. Their rites include bi-annual trips into the jungle where the men and women have sex (one-on-one) with as many as they desire, but all couples are monogamous the rest of the year. They had no words for “time,” “moral,” “immoral,” “purpose,” or “meaning” since their culture is concept-free. They are the perfect example of a relax-and-take-it-easy community, and they are the perfect example of the way humankind lived for hundreds of thousands of years and the way human-like beings have lived for millions of years. None were ever frustrated during the day, and none stayed up all night trying to find some egotistical “purpose” to give their existence some lofty “meaning.” Beingness is valued; doingness is anathema. That is what natural living, as opposed to supernatural living and unnatural living, looks like.

What about you? How close is your current lifestyle to what is natural? How much extra work is being undertaken to do religion and/or spirituality? Do you need all of the extra work that others would assign to you? The answer is “Yes, if that ‘you’ is a body with a corrupted ‘mind’ that drives ego-states and all false identities.” The answer is “No, not if You know that That Which You Are has nothing to do with the body-mind that has been drawn into all the nonsense of those who dream up concepts to control you.” The answer is also “Yes” only if you suffer the burden of ego-states that are using all of the going and doing and zooming and role-playing and moralizing in order to sustain one or more images. Do you need the more that would-be spiritualists are driving you to engage in, or do you need less so that you can live naturally? Is it possible that tribes with no religion or spiritual programs have members that are living lifestyles that are far less “immoral” than those persons living in cultures where persons are claiming to be “moral” but are harming others, relatively speaking?

If knowledge is not seen to be learned ignorance, ego-states will want more and more answers. And in the search for more and more answers, “Jack becomes a very dull boy.” Are you engaged in a search to find out more and more about yourself and your self-worth via finding and then assuming some celestial, noble purpose? Or are you living naturally? If you are not living naturally, how much fun are you to be around? Does the rocket-paced lifestyle of your culture of accumulation appeal to you more than the lifestyle of a jungle tribe that has never suffered mental or emotional issues that need treatment? Does the chaos-burdened lifestyle of your culture of going and doing and zooming appeal to you more than a lifestyle of relaxation and bliss? Then ego-states have too firm a grip for any shift to happen now. But should a time come when natural living sounds more appealing than supernatural and unnatural living, a “path” is available—with only seven-steps required—that can free you of the searching, the seeking, the extra work, and a boring lifestyle that stymies joy and prevents a truly entertaining existence from happening. The options are clear, but only to those who see how unclearly their programming and conditioning have left their ability to see. Please enter into the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]